deskthority

this just happened to me for the first time,I guess it´s a keyboard shit moment!

The caps on this Apple Standard Keyboard were almost "glued" to the salmon ALPS!

Well this apple cleaning operation shall commence anyway.
those ALPS PCB´s are allways nice to look at:
cleaned board now,(sorry these are all android pics):
starting to look good:

I could never understand how alps caps are actually attached

well it´s just a different mount,this particular one stayed mounted, so I´ll have to desolder the switch at a later time. I´ll never get the mount out of there.I do have plenty of apple replacement caps though.

http://deskthority.net/wiki/Keycap_mount#Alps_mount

seebart wrote: I´ll never get the mount out of there.

It’s pretty easy to remove.

2 ways:
(1) one get some kind of sharp metal hook or stick, jab it into the plastic of the keycap stem, and pry it up.
(2) open up the switch (use two tiny screwdrivers or similar to pry out on the plastic tabs and pull the top housing up), and poke the little plastic piece through from the other side of the slider.

I have never broken one of these myself in removing keycaps from 10+ old apple boards (what kind of method are you using to pull the keycaps off? there are good ways and bad ways), but a couple had caps already broken off like this when I got them, and removing them only takes a minute, and isn’t hard.

i just use a dental pick i modified

they come right out

just used it on an old green alps board i got and they pop right out

one get some kind of sharp metal hook or stick, jab it into the plastic of the keycap stem, and pry it up.

I think I´ll try that first, thanks.

what kind of method are you using to pull the keycaps off? there are good ways and bad ways

you mean the tool or the method of using the tool? I have two keypullers:

they come right out

trust me I´ve pulled quite a few caps and not EVER experienced anything like this.Like I wrote,the caps were super hard to pull which I have never had on any ALPS board.

BINGO!

You can use a metal screw aswell.
Screw it into the stem and slowly pull it up with pliers.

Just make sure the diameter of the screw is small enough, so the stem doesn't bend and sticks even harder.

You can use a metal screw aswell.

that would probably be even easier!

Thanks. This baby is ready for some action (retrobright candidate of course):

I need one of these